


Half-Truths

by WhenAngelsFall



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Derek Hale & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Dysfunctional Family, Eventual Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Families of Choice, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Isaac Lahey & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Minor Isaac Lahey/Stiles Stilinski, Minor Stiles Stilinski/Jackson Whittemore, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Isaac Lahey, Oblivious Jackson Whittemore, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Derek, Protective Derek Hale, Self-Acceptance, Self-Discovery, Slow Build, Stiles Stilinski & Jackson Whittemore Friendship, Stilinski Family Feels, off screen cannon death, past magic Claudia, sterek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 16:32:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17625821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhenAngelsFall/pseuds/WhenAngelsFall
Summary: Not all actions reflect the person that you are, the person that you could be. Mistakes happen, but people are quick to write others off and are even quicker to judge based on half-truths and with little to no context. People also have a long memory when it comes to these things.Stiles find people just as lost as him, together they face the big bad world learning that it doesn't matter what other people think to be true.





	1. In the end it doesn't even matter

**Author's Note:**

> Be nice, this is my first published Teen Wold fic.  
> Prewarning, it's going to be slow going, and i'm not even sure where it's going yet...!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, if you spot a big on that i've missed, let me know
> 
> Mwah xx

**“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” - The Old Astronomer**

Not all actions reflect the person that you are, the person that you could be. Mistakes happen, but people are quick to write others off and are even quicker to judge based on half-truths and with little to no context. People also have a long memory when it comes to these things.  
Stiles killed his mom when he was 11. Fact.  
Stiles accidentally killed his mom when he was 11. Fact.  
Stiles’ mom had been sick for a very long time. She asked him to press a button. Stiles loved his mom, who was he to say no to anything she asked?  
Stiles killed his mom by administering a fatal dosage of morphine at age 11. Fact.  
Stiles’ mom would have died within a week anyway, but in excruciating pain. Fact.

People have long memories, but not for the details. They forgot that his mom was sick and dying a painful death, they forget that if he’d actually done anything wrong he would have been punished.

The fact that Stiles killed his mom when he was 11, is the only fact that people focus on.


	2. Hello Beautiful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter titles are lyrics/ titles of songs that i'm listening to at the time of posting - not always related to the chapter...
> 
> Sometimes i'm going to throw in a quote I like at the beginning of a chapter - also unrelated, just roll with it.

**War does not determine who is right - only who is left.  -- Bertrand Russell**

 

After his mom’s funeral he went to live with his Grandmother. His dad too wrapped up in his own grief to take care of himself, let alone a kid. So he lived with his Grandmother for six years. His dad visited over the holidays and Stiles went back to Beacon Hills each summer for a few weeks, until he got an early acceptance to Stanford.

At 17 he moved back to California, living in student halls on campus which just happened to be a three-hour drive away from Beacon Hills, from his dad.

_“It’ll be good for us son. You can come home for weekends more often. I can visit you. Get some time off work”._

_Home… you can come home…_

Stiles didn’t see Beacon Hills as home anymore, but he couldn’t say this to his dad. His dad had sounded so happy on the phone when he’d told him.

After his mom died, his dad had drunk too much and worked too hard. In the two weeks between her death and the funeral, Stiles had seen his dad three times. Once when he had screamed at him for murdering the woman he’d loved, and two times when, he’d woken up from a nightmare going downstairs to get a drink of water to find his dad passed out on the kitchen table, an empty bottle of Jack in front of him and glass still in hand.

This was why when his Babcia had suggested that Stiles stay with her for ‘a little while’, no-one put up much of a fight.

He couldn’t tell his father that _home_ for him was with his Babcia. Home was hot chocolate before bed, his Babcia coming into his room each and every night kissing his forehead, whispering _“kocham Cię kochanie_.” With Stiles always replying “ _I love you too Babcia”,_ no matter how old he was.

Home was sitting on Babcia’s deck listening to her live-in ‘man friend’ (“ _boyfriend sounds too young_ _kochanie”_ ) George talk about the war. Or telling him about the ‘ _amazing_ ’ fish he had caught that morning, before always letting it go.

George; who taught him to drive.

George; who in the past six years had acted more like a father than his dad had.

Babcia and George; they were home to him.

He’d missed them more than he’d ever missed his dad, but he couldn’t say that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not Polish, nor do I speak Polish, google translate is a friend to all, but I love Polish speaking Stiles... I won't put too much in, just the odd phrase here and there. If the translation is massively off, please let me know.
> 
> Babcia - Grandma/ Nanna/ Granny  
> kocham Cię kochanie - I Love you sweetheart  
> kochanie - Darling / sweetheart


	3. Until we go down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles goes to Stanford

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some chapters are going to be longer than others. Some will be short - deal with it.

**Our mothers tell us that**

**there are no monsters under our beds,**

**or hidden inside our closets**

**but the don't warn us**

**that sometimes monsters**

**come dressed as people**

**that claim to love you**

**more than the sun**

**loves the moon**

**\- Nikita Gill, The Real Monsters**

 

Stiles had been at college all of four days when he came to the conclusion that maybe he shouldn’t have taken early acceptance to Stanford, maybe he should have waited. Gone to Brown the following fall. He only had a provisional place, but his grades wouldn’t have fallen. Then he wouldn’t be miles away from Babcia and George.

Yes, Stanford was his dream school, what he had been aiming for, but it was also the only school prestigious enough for Beacon Hills parents to brag that their kid got into while still being close enough to come back for the weekends.

Stiles had decided that he hated being this close to Beacon Hills. Although he came back each summer he’d had the act of avoiding people down to an art. The only people he’d stayed in contact with had been Scott and Melissa. Mostly because they knew what really happened in the hospital. Melissa had looked after him when his dad couldn’t in the lead up to his mother’s funeral. So, even though at one point Scott and Melissa had been close enough to class as family, now they just exchange a casual messages here and there especially since Scott got a girlfriend last year. In fact, in the last year, out of Scott, his dad and Melissa, he heard from Melissa the most.

He suspects that’s because Melissa feels bad because she couldn’t take him in herself, but her wage barely kept Scott fed, let alone a second growing boy.

So Stiles had seen more people he recognised from Beacon Hills in the last four days than he had seen in the last six years of yearly summer visits, and he hated the stares and whispers.

It was 8am, he was walking to his 8.30 Criminal Justice class when his hatred had been decided. He’d seen the two guys as part of a group that hung around campus between classes. Some of them looking vaguely familiar.

“I’m telling you, dude, it’s him,” the first voice had gritted like it wasn’t the first time he had said that. He was in the seating area Stiles was passing.

 _“No way! He’s just a look-a-like. I heard the guy you’re thinking of got sent away or probably died or some shit”._ A tall curly haired guy replied.

Stiles recognised him, he had been a couple of years above him in middle school. Stiles thought his name might have been Zack or something like that.

“Bet you morning coffee for a month it’s him.”

Stiles turned around at the sound of the first guy again realising he was the only one around they could be talking about. He had gotten used to people talking about him, but it still sucked. He didn’t recognise this guy. Stiles was starting to be filled with dread. If he wasn’t so distracted by the words he was hearing, Stiles would have found the guy good looking. He had slightly lighter hair than the other Zack guy. It could probably be classed as dirty blond. He also looked very put together for 8am, almost model like with the way he was spread out over the seat and table, like he was posing for an invisible camera.

“Jackson, how are you going to find out if its him or not? Huh? You can’t just walk up to a guy and be – Hey! You the kid who killed his mom? That’s not how people talk to each other dude!” _,_ the Zack guy had got progressively louder as he finished his sentence more frustrated than he had started.

 _“Isaac”._ , (Okay, so that’s where he’d got the Zack from Stiles had thought) “ _Look, the only reason you’re getting mad right now is because you’re starting to think you’re gonna be buying me a lot of coffee”._ Jackson had smirked. Stiles already hated that he liked that smirk. These guys were clearly assholes.

Isaac just looked at him in an “I’m so done with your shit” way. Jackson decided that this was a challenge.

 _“Hey! Hey you, yeah, you!_ Jackson shouted, he was now up and heading right towards Stiles who had all of 20 seconds to decide how he was going to react. He squared his shoulder, stuck his chin out defiantly and looked Jackson straight in the eye.

“ _Did you want something_?” Stiles settled on rather than a greeting.

 _“You’re Sheriff Stilinski’s kid right?_ ” Stiles nodded, raising his eyebrows in a _so what?_ Kind of way.

“ _I knew you were_!” Looking back over he yells _“Hey Zac_ ,” Jackson yelled, looking back. “I _t is him! I told you it was the Stilinski kid! Pay up fucker, I’ll have a latte_.”

Jackson turned back, putting his full attention on Stiles. _“Huh, you don’t look like a murderer.”_ As he said this he’d been looking Stiles up and down, clearly checking him out.

“ _I’m sorry, what did you just say to me?_ ” Stiles tried to mask his hurt with outrage. If they had been having a normal conversation, he would have felt flattered with the way Jackson was looking at him.

Isaac had made his way over to them, catching what Jackson had said and Stiles’ reaction.

He pulled a hand down his face and hissed at Jackson. _“Dude, I told you, you can’t say shit like that to people.”_ He turned his body towards Stiles. “ _Sorry about him.”_ Indicating towards Jackson. _“He’s an asshole.”_ He then paused as if to think about his next words, and then smirked. “ _Well, we both are to be honest with you. But if it’s any consolation, according to Beacon Hills, I murdered my dad. Well, either me or a giant lizard man my dad was ranting about._ ” He elbowed a sniggering Jackson like this was some kind of inside joke and they weren’t talking about dead parents.

Stiles remembers a story about an abusive asshole who had hit his kids coming home drunk and screaming about lizard men and had tried to attack his kid, missing him, subsequently barrelling down the basement stairs and breaking his neck. Some people had said his kid had pushed him. Others had said he was murdered in an  back ally by a lizard man and his body dumped back home... People were weird in Beacon Hills.

Jackson straightened his expression “ _Yeah, and I caused a deadly crash at the age of 6 months that killed my birth parents so I’m apparently a murdered as well. Also Derek, the eyebrow guy that we hang out with.”_

Stiles nodded to indicate that he was not only listening but knew who Jackson is talking about. Because what else could he do, he seemed to be stuck where he stood.

“ _Well, Derek killed his whole family. Like 18 people. House fire. I mean he didn’t exactly light the fire but you know it was his psychopath ex so clearly it was his fault.” Jackson adds._

 _“Welcome to the Beacon Hill’s murder club dude.”_ Isaac grinned throwing his arm over Stiles’ shoulder and squeezing slightly.

Stiles had just stood there, trying to process what had just happened. Jackson seemed to realise that Stiles was still unsure.

“ _Look, we’re assholes, we know you didn’t murder your mom. No more than we murdered ours but people talk and believe half-truths. Ugh! Okay Izzy, you’re right, this was the wrong way to go about this.”_ Jackson turned to Isaac for help.

Sighing, Isaac dropped his arm from around Stiles’ shoulder. “ _Look, we’ve seen you on your own over the last four days. This is your first year right?_ ” Stiles nodded, for some reason he couldn’t find his voice.

“ _Well, we are a group of, let’s say misfits, and we thought that you could maybe do with a friend or six. We thought that you might fit in with us. We can’t resist adopting people in need. Therefore, the two most approachable people of the group took it upon ourselves to make first contact sort to speak. I mean, you’re what 16? 17? You must be pretty smart if you’re in college early and you’re in some of our classes, we thought it could be mutually beneficial. You know, you help us with classes and you get a group of friends. Win – win, am I right?”_ Isaac beamed like his explanation had made any sense.

Stiles stood, mouth slightly agape, he couldn’t believe what had happened in the past five minutes. So he burst out laughing finally finding his voice.

“ _I’m sorry! You two are the most approachable people in your group? You’ve both openly admitted that you are ass holes. More than once I might add and I’ve only known you five minutes. You want me to, what join your little group.?”_ His shocked laughter had tampered down while talking.

“ _If you two are any indication to how the rest of your group act then no, I don’t want to join you. You only want me because I’m younger and smarter so you thought you could what, get me to do your assignments for you? And what sort of name is Beacon Hill’s murder club anyway? I hope your joking? Regardless of if I murdered my mom or not, she’s still dead. So joking about stuff like that is not okay!”_ Stiles actually started to get pissed.

“ _Y’know what? Let’s just forget you ever spoke to me. I’ve done fine on my own for this long. I don’t need anyone to pity friend me.”_ Stiles sighs as he walks away continuing towards his class “ _Just leave me alone.”_ Stiles said so quietly as he walked away, he didn’t care if they had heard him or not. He dropped his shoulders and hunched in on himself. Yep, he hated being this close to Beacon Hills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, be nice to me please!
> 
> Any mistakes bla bla bla - let me know any biggies!
> 
> Mwah


	4. Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isaac tries to smooth things over, he might make things worse and

**You're a spark without flame**  
**I'm a desert in the rain,**  
**You're a mountain and I'm a stepping stone**  
**So walk away from your pride**  
**It's a demon is disguise**  
**And it won't help you to calm the swelling tide**

**Human - Gabrielle Aplin**

Jackson and Isaac stood there watching the clearly upset brunet walk away. Jackson was mad, mad at Isaac and mad at himself. He could smell the formation of tears that the boy clearly didn’t want to shed as he had all but ran away from them. Great, if he’d know the Stilinski kid would grow to be so attractive with the upturned nose and Bambi eyes he would have never agreed to this plan. Fuck his life, he thinks as he goes to run a hand through his hair before remembering it’s been gelled perfectly today.

“ _Way to be a dick!”_ He whispers shouts as he punched Isaac in the upper arm. _“You made it sound like we only wanted to befriend him so he could help us. Derek is going to be pissed!_ ”

“Y _ou’re the one who pissed him off to begin with talking about his dead mom. I told you that’s not how you start a conversation. And we do want his help, just, I suppose in a different way to what he thinks.“_ Jackson had just raised an eyebrow to this.

Isaac continued getting exasperated _“Well, it’s not like we could have gone up to him all”_ Isaac waves his arms and plasted on a fake smile. _“Hey man, did you know your mom had magic in her family? Yeah, well that magic gets passed on through blood, to children meaning that you’re magic! And guess what?!”_ Isaac's voice got slightly higher pitch and even more excitable _. “We are werewolves! I know, sooo cool right? So anyway, we are a pack and Derek, the eyebrow guy, he’s our alpha and we want you to be our Emissary ya know because of the whole magic thing."_ Isaac throws slight jazz hands because, well because, it’ll piss Jackson off more.

Isaac took a steadying breath “ _We don’t know if he knows what we are. We don’t know if he knows what he is. Basically, Jackson we know nothing about him. If he didn’t know, we would have sent him running for the hills.”_

 _“Isaac, we’ve already sent him running for the hills and upset him!”_ Jackson pointed towards the directly they last saw Stiles. He was starting to feel bad.

“ _Shit, your right, Derek is going to be pissed!”_ Isaac whines and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. _“Ugh, I need coffee for this.”_ Jackson took the ten-dollar note Isaac hands him with a questioning look. “ _I said I’d buy coffee, not get it. I’ll meet you in class, I expect change._ ”

 _“Fine, I’ll meet you in class with it, no point both of us being late. But you’ve been spending too much time with Derek, his bossiness rubbing off on you!”_ Jackson says as he leaves.

 _“Well, I am his second!”_ Isaac yells after him. He smirked as he headed to class, maybe Jackson was right, there was a time when he wouldn’t have been so bold. But being part of a semi stable pack had been good for them. They had all changed., mostly for the better. They tried not to upset guy who’s doe eyes could rival a Disney woodland animal on cuteness factor. Huh, he had Bambi eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

He thought about it as he walked through the lecture hall door. Derek would want him to make this right as soon as possible. He knew Stiles asked them to leave him alone, but the sooner it was sorted the better he had thought.

He spotted Stiles sitting towards the back of the room. No time like the present, he thought as he headed towards the empty seat next to him.

 

 _“Hey Bambi.”_ Isaac greeted as he took the seat next to Stiles hanging his rucksack from the back of it. The person behind huffed as he essentially put his bag on their feet.

“ _Can we not go one conversation without you referring to the fact that I have a dead mother? I told you to leave me alone!”_ Stiles hisses as he quickly gathers his stuff and moved seats nearly taking out a couple of fellow students sat on the end seats as he tried to re-shoulder his backpack and negotiate stairs.

Isaac gapes as he watched Stiles stumble away

“ _Wow, I’m sorry about before, you’re so much better than me at this friend making thing._ ” Jackson snarled as he all but threw Isaacs coffee on his desk, as he sat in Stiles’ vacated seat. “ _Cute nickname by the way, mind if I steal it?_ ”

Isaac glared at him _“It was on account of his doe eyes, I actually wasn’t being an ass this time.”_ Isaac leaned back in his chair taking a long pull of his drink. _“In hindsight, probably not the best on account of our last conversation.”_ He shrugged.

“Hmmm” Jackson agreed, both of them turned their attention to the professor who had walked in. Both men occasionally glanced down at the guy who had finally settled three rows down.

* * *

 

Stiles had left the seat so fast that he’d nearly hit two or three of his classmates while trying to juggle his belonging he’d swept up in a hurry and put his bag back on. The class had filled up quite a bit since he’d picked his first seat near the top. He spotted a seat three rows down from his original seat which Jackson had quickly taken on as he was moving down.

He couldn’t quite pick up all of what Jackson had said while he was shuffling into place but he could tell it had been sarcastic. He caught some of the last bit. Jackson was commenting on the “cute nickname.”

 _“It was on account of his doe eyes, I actually wasn’t being an ass this time”,_ Stiles heard Isaac say. Maybe he had been too quick to jump to conclusions. _“In hindsight, probably not the best on account of our last conversation.”_ Well, at least the guy sounded remorseful. Stiles thought he could let it go as a misunderstanding as long as they stayed out of his way in future. He really hoped they didn’t stick with the Bambi thing. Stiles was pulled from his thoughts by the professor starting the class.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the end of class Isaac quickly packed up. He wanted to try and catch Stiles before he left. Just as he tried to stand up, Jackson stopped him with an arm across his chest. “ _Just let him go. I’m in his pre-law class after lunch.”_ Isaac rans his hand down his face and nodded.

He felt bad for the kid. He already looked like he hated this place. Then he had two assholes who didn’t know him, drag shit up. Shit that if it was Isaac, he’d want to try and forget about.

Criminal Justice was Isaac’s only class on Thursday’s. He figured he could go home and grab a couple of hours of sleep before he needed to go to work. Hopefully he could avoid Derek. No doubt if he ran into him, Derek would smell Stiles on him and ask questions he wasn’t sure he could answer. He knew he shouldn't have put his arm round the younger boy.

* * *

Stiles packed up slowly, he didn’t have another class until after lunch. He thought if he waited a few minutes for the class to clear then he could avoid Jackson and Isaac.

Jackson had been in his pre-law class on Monday so he was pretty sure he would see him again later. He thought about going back to his dorm to change, but decided against it. Jackson had already been seen him in what he was wearing anyway so the damage was already done. He wasn’t sure what he would have even changed into. He mostly owns the same plaid shirt, graphic T-shirt and jeans combination in different colors.

Sighing in frustration, mostly now at himself, he finished packing up and decided to have lunch out on the quad. It was Northern California so the weather hadn’t cooled enough to warrant more than his over shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've not written too much more of this yet, the tags might give stuff away but it will be Sterek endgame. Stiles might have a bit of fun along the way and help two people get together through him... ;)  
> Currently rated M but may get bumped to E, depending on how that goes...
> 
> I'll try and update at least one a week *I promise to at least try and keep that promise*
> 
>  Also if you haven't guessed i'm British so if i spell thing the English way, let me know, in England we spell Color as Colour - I used the American spelling here...
> 
> ** Edit 06/28/2019 -- I've moved what was chapter 5 and merged it with chapter 4 as i think they were really short chapters and it flows better for moving on in chapter 5 which i'll be posting shortly. The story hasn't changed if you've already read what is now the end of chapter 4 so don't worry about having to re-read. I've also fixed a couple of typo's.
> 
> Mwah! xx

**Author's Note:**

> ermmm, that what i got so far, look out for updates. Let me know what you think!


End file.
